


Of Breeders and Shopkeepers

by RangerDew



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: I RUSHED OK I GAVE LIKE 0 THOUGHT TO THE TITLE, Multi, also super vague but I need suggestions abt Pidge's end result relationship., also surprise bitches my first fic EVER lmao, asdghjkjdf, bc im gonna b honest with u, be prepared to give me suggestions, college au.. sort of, i have no plot planned out, ill add more tags as I go, like.. EVER, monster shop au, plz, rated teen n up for swearing, this was originally just a pidge x reader fic, title kinda based off the title if Of Mice and Men, ugh a lot of the characters might not even show up until later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 18:42:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11469429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RangerDew/pseuds/RangerDew
Summary: Pidge lived in a world of monsters. And no, not the big, evil monsters you see in movies. Monsters were just like animals, or pets, but more... interesting. I mean, you don't see regular dogs running around with one leg while breathing fire. But hey, it was cool. Nearly everybody had a monster - it was like common courtesy. And Pidge's friends have been begging her to get one for a year now. But Pidge has always hated living creatures of any kind - will this work out for the better, or for the worse?





	1. introduction, but not really

**Author's Note:**

> HI BITCHES. Ok, so, right now I'm on "vacation" in China, visiting my family. I can't get on YouTube or Tumblr in China, so I'm pretty bored? So I thought, "HEY, I HAVE NEVER WRITTEN A FANFIC BEFORE, LETS HAVE SOME FUN" and I just kept writing until I thought, "HEY, THIS LOOKS LIKE A SWELL IDEA." 
> 
> also i just finished season two of gravity falls and it feels like im dying. send Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge goes to a monster shop.

Pidge hated living creatures. Humans, monsters, they all sucked in her book. But for some reason, her friends still decided that having a pet monster would be "good for her". They wouldn't shut up about it.

"D'aaaww, look at this Fodien! Look at its tiny little paws!" Hunk was sitting on the couch in their living room when he motioned for Pidge to come look. 

Pidge groaned as she trudged over and stared down at the teal, mole-like creature on Hunk's phone. "For the last time, I've done research on those things like you asked and I learned that they get their food EVERYWHERE. Nasty." 

Hunk sighed, visibly exasperated. "Just give it a chance! Any creature! It'll be good for you."

"There you go again with the 'good for you'. Honestly, Hunk, I'm perfectly fine without some animal wreaking havoc in my house!" Pidge walked back over to her seat on the dining table and opened her laptop. "Look, here, I'll do some more research to get you off my back."

"Thanks, Pidge. I'm sure you'll find something you like." Hunk smiled encouragingly and resumed to doing his own thing.

Pidge took a deep breath and typed "good monsters for pets" onto Google and pressed search. She'd basically clicked every link in that search while looking for a good monster. She turned her head towards the ceiling and began to sigh loudly.

Hunk turned his head towards Pidge. "Look, dude, you know that monster shop, like, 3 blocks away? Lance recently got a job there, you could go check it out. I think he's on his shift right now." 

Pidge looked at Hunk with a pained look on her face. "If I go, will you stop bothering me about getting a pet for the rest of the week?"

"Deal."

———

Lance loved animals. It was no surprise he was thrilled when "Uncle" Coran (he wasnt *really* anyone's uncle, but everyone called him Uncle Coran anyways) offered him a job at his monster shop. The shop was small and quaint, and Coran always expected it to be in tip top shape - with polished floors and everything! 

It had been a hazy, slow noon for Lance. He had already shined the windows, and he was focused on one of the aquatic creatures featured behind the window when he got a text. Keith. Lance looked down. Unknown number. Huh. He opened his messenger.

Unknown: Shiro, fuck this shit. There's no more instant ramen. 

Mythic Bitch: how bout u eat real food or smth lmao

Unknown: ....? Who is this?

Lance broke into a full smile. Maybe today wouldn't be so boring after all.

Mythic Bitch: yeah dude wrong number. but u should try cooking for reals u know

Suddenly, he heard the bells hung above the entrance ring. Somebody had walked into the store.

They had short, dark brown hair, the kind that was poofy and looked kind of like a softer variant of straw. It was died a salmon pink at the tips. They looked Chinese, maybe Vietnamese... Lance couldn't quiet place it. They had round pink sunglasses sitting on their face, and they were wearing a lavender t-shirt and bright pink pants with a leaf and bird pattern.

To put it simply, they looked pretty wild.

Lance studied them. They looked about Pidge's age. Lance decided to stop analyzing her and get down to business. "Hey, welcome to the local monster store, best in the town, all of our breeders put the best care into the animals. How may I help you?" He was required to say all that breeder stuff. Once he forgot to say it and they lost a customer. He smiled at the girl (girl? boy? probably a girl because of what they were wearing, but Lance couldn't tell). 

The customer looked over at Lance. "Oh! Hey! Yeah, just looking around." Her voice was loud - it almost sounded like she was shouting. Lance winced. He was used to the store being nice and quiet.

He left the customer to do her own thing, and he was about to check his phone again when the bells near the entrance rang again. This time, Pidge walked into the store, looking quiet disgruntled.

Lance's face split into a wide smile. "Pidge! My man! Buddy!" 

Pidge rolled her eyes. "Sorry Lance. Can't make fun of you today. Hunk sent me here. I got work to do." She waggled her fingers like a madman when she said "work".

Lance laughed. "Alright, you little gremlin. Off you go then. Call me if you need me."

"Will do, captain." With that, Pidge began walking towards some small, fat bird creatures.

Lance stared off into the distance at Pidge, not really paying attention to anything. His thoughts began to wander.

Hm. Those bird things Pidge is looking at sure are cute.

Bird things... since when were those in the store?

Oh. OH.

"PIDGE. STEP AWAY FROM THOSE BIRD THINGS."

Pidge turned around, confused. "Wha-"

Suddenly, one of the little bird shits opened its mouth, revealing a long, salmon pink tongue, which stretched out of the cage and latched onto the phone in the pocket of Pidge's shorts.

Pidge looked down at her phone, her eyes wide. "What the FUCK?" she screamed. "GET YOUR DAMN TONGUE OFF MY PHONE, YOU LITTLE SHIT!" 

She stretched her hand down to get the tongue off, and before Lance could warn her, the tongue began wrapping itself around Pidge's finger. Pidge began screeching like a drifting car.

"YOU LITTLE FUCKINGFRICKFRACKDUMB BITCH! GET *OFF* ME AND MY FUCKING PHONE!" 

Lance ran out from behind the counter. In any other situation, he would have been laughing his ass off by now, but Lance had made the same mistake a couple days ago. The birds had eaten a ten dollar bill from his wallet. 

The girl who had entered the shop earlier, though, was standing in place, watching the scene unfold. She almost looked like she was trying not to laugh. 

Lance looked around. There was a spray bottle on top of the cage for those bird things. Perfect. He grabbed it and sprayed vigorously at the tongue of the bird creature. 

The tongue flinched and quickly uncoiled from Pidge's fingers. Lance sprayed it a couple more times, and the tongue shrunk back into the cage. Lance breathed a sigh of relief.

Pidge looked shook. "Lance. What the fuck. Was that."

Lance looked at Pidge. "Buddy, I don't even know, but all you gotta know is that I lost ten dollars to those bitches. I don't even know why they're even in the store." 

Pidge backed off. "I'll just go... look at those quinques over there." She walked over to where the girl was.

Lance walked back to the countertop and pulled out his phone.

Unknown: I don't know how to cook.

Lance groaned, and began rapid fire typing and insulting the stranger's cooking abilities. Overall, today wasn't a bad day.


	2. how 2 make conversation 101

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge talks to the girl with the pink-tipped hair.

Pidge had to admit she was *not* prepared for a fat, aggressive, colorful bird burglar. She was still replaying the events in her mind when she walked over to the habitat with the quinques. Quinques were these five-legged flamingos, with vibrant purple and red feathers. Pidge recalled hearing from Keith once that they breathed fire. Not her type.

She looked at the person next to her. She couldn't quiet place the gender of the person next to her, but if she had to guess, she'd say the person standing next to her was a girl. 

The silence was stifling. The person next to Pidge began to speak. "So... uh... neat quinques, right?"

Pidge nodded. "Yeah, pretty neat. 

The stranger goes on. "Kinda reminds me of Pokémon, for some reason."

Pidge turned to look at the stranger. "No way! That's what I was thinking!"

The stranger laughed. Pidge couldn't help but think that their laugh is pretty nice.

"So... you're a girl, right? Just wanna make sure." 

"Oh!" the stranger sounded enthusiastic about the topic. "Yeah! I am! One hundred percent female!" 

"Oh! Neat." Pidge knew she was terrible at keeping a conversation, but she kinda felt like she wanted to keep talking with this girl. No matter how awkward it was.

"So what're you here for?" the girl asked. "I just want a new pet, you know, I'm kinda lonely 24/7 without my cousin. She's going on vacation for, like, a month." She said it so nonchalantly Pidge honestly wondered if she'd heard her right.

"Oh... yeah. I'm not too hung up about getting me a monster, but my friends are OBSESSED with it. They think it's 'good for me'." 

"Well, your friends are right! Give it a chance! Unless you like, really really hate monsters or something. Then maybe not."

"Yeah, I really really hate them."

"Oh."

The awkward silence resumed. Pidge was quiet literally froze in place. What do you do when your conversation reaches a stalemate? She wished she could whip out her phone and search that up herself, but she didn't want the other to think that she wasn't interested in the conversation or something.

"Sooo.... I'm assuming you're a girl?" Oh, the stranger was asking her a question.

"Oh. No, I'm genderflux. I range from girl, to demigirl, to agender, it really depends on the day. Sorry, you probably don't know what any of those are." 

"No, no, I do know what it is. I was actually guessing you were agender, but I didn't think you would know what that was. So, what gender are you today?" Dang, this girl talked fast.

"Girl. One hundred percent girl." 

"Oh, neat! Also, I'm just gonna go look at those quakes over there." She pointed at a small glass tank with colorful little gumdrop-shaped creatures. 

"Oh. Okay." Pidge kept staring at the quinques, thinking. Dammit. Conversation over. No way to keep it afloat now. 

When the girl left, she turned to Pidge and said, "Bye!" Pidge waved and said "bye" back. 

The girl exited the store, feeling very flustered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> shit dude I need suggestions. abt pidges relationship?? should I still make it x reader??? asdgjkj


	3. Shay's Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk goes to Shay's place to see some animals.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we.... are the crystal... GEMS

Hunk had been peacefully sitting on the couch searching up cute pictures of those mole-like creatures (they were called Fodiens, Hunk remembered). Despite what Pidge had said, Hunk still desperately wanted one of these little guys. 

Suddenly, Pidge bust through the door. "I'm going back to the pet store tomorrow. I think I got a good idea of what I want."

That got Hunk interested. "Wait, really? Tell me about it! Is it a roller bear? Or maybe it's one of those cute bird things Lance recently got in his shop!"

"No, Hunk. It's not a roller bear and don't go near those "cute bird things". Nearly lost a phone today."

"Oh, what? Those little guys are phone stealers? Never woulda thought." Hunk went back to looking at Fodiens on his phone. There was a breeder who lived a 30 minute drive away - maybe he'd go visit tomorrow.

"Yeah. Apparently Lance lost, like, a ten dollar bill to those guys. Rip."

"Well, tell me when you pick out a pet! I promise you you won't regret it!"

"Alright."

\------

Shay loved her job. Well, not really a job. More like a hobby you could earn money off of. She lived in a small, one story house in the outskirts of the city. She had a special section of her house dedicated just to raising and breeding monsters.

Her family had been breeding creatures for generations in the countryside. When Shay decided to move to the outskirts of the city, she took some of the baby features with her to continue breeding in her new home. Now she had a website and was fairly successful.

She kept some Fodiens - a kind of mole-like creature with tiny paws. The types of Fodiens she bred were friendly, and specifically bred to be pinkish-grayish and have short, silky hair. 

She also raised a type of creature that was unique to her family - a Balmera. They basically looked like a corrupted gem from Steven Universe, but smaller. Their colors ranged from gray to brown, and they had a hard rock skin. The skin sometimes grew small, translucent blue crystals. They were worth a lot of money - they generated energy and looked absolutely gorgeous on a necklace. That was part of Shay's income - harvesting the crystals.

Shay was knitting a sweater for one of her Fodiens one day when she heard the doorbell ring.

She walked over to the door and opened it. "Hello! Are you here to pick up a monster?" 

She looked at the stranger in the doorway. He was a dark-skinned big guy, with a yellow ribbon tied around his head. If Shay had to guess, she would say he was of Hawaiian descent. 

"Uh, yeah, I actually am here for some animals! Can I take a look at your Fodiens?" 

"Sure! Right this way." Shay was liking this stranger. He had a nice sort of atmosphere floating around him.

"Yeah! Okay. So I'm looking for one that, I don't know, kinda matches my personality? I dunno how to describe it. Oh! And also preferably not a messy eater, my friend, uh, roommate, she hates messes. Don't wanna upset her. You know, now that I think of it, I don't think I ever talked this through with her. Hopefully she won't be too mad at me."

Shay laughed. "Well, if you like, you can just take a look at the creatures this time, and take them home some other day. After you have explained everything to your friend."

"Oh, uh, really? Thanks!"

"No problem. Also, here we are."

They were in a sort of backyard enclosure. There were some cacti plants scattered around the yard, and the soil smelled like the ground after it rained. Shay launched into an explanation. "My Fodiens require fresh, moist soil to dig in. However, the soil doesn't have to be that deep. I can dig up a couple for you to choose from." 

"Oh! Okay. Thanks." 

Shay thrust her hand into the dirt and dug around for a bit, before throwing her other hand down and pulling out a wriggling Fodien. "This is Scronch," she announced. "He is more of an independent one, so I do not think he would be good for you. But you can still take him if you want."

The stranger shook his head. "Nah, you're right. This guy doesn't fit me."

Shay nodded, and she took a couple steps forward before beginning to dig for another Fodien. After moving her hands around for a bit, she pulled out a tiny pink Fodien that was just a brighter shade of pink than the others. It had a minuscule spot of yellow on her chest. "This is-"

"Okay, wait, hold it. I'm just gonna say, before you say what you were gonna say, that I want this one."

Shay felt confused. "But I have not even begun telling you about her yet."

The stranger shrugged. "I know. But I just feel like, she's the right one? You know? Like, even the symbolism is speaking to me. Look at that spot of yellow on her chest!"

Shay looked down at the creature. "Well... I suppose you can take her. She will be ready in about a week."

"Sounds great!" The stranger looked like he had never been more excited. "I'll go tell my friend. I'll come back.. uh... in a week, right?"

Shay smiled softly. "Yep. Next week, this place, this time. Until then, stranger."

The stranger smiled back at Shay. "Okay. Great. Now, uh, can you tell me how to get out of here? I'm a bit lost."

Shay laughed. "Okay, stranger. Let's go." She began walking in front of the stranger and towards the front door.

"Uh, name's Hunk."

"Okay, Hunk."

She waved Hunk away at the door, and she could've sworn that when he walked away, she heard him say, "Oh my god, I totally nailed it!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> should Shay be an intelligent monster, or a human? i need advice lmao


End file.
